AN injunction banning a prolific beggar from Colchester’s Greenstead estate for an unprecedented ten years has been scrapped.

Bevan Ash, 42, was outlawed from the estate after Colchester Borough Homes gained a county court order.

He spent Christmas and the New Year sleeping rough and was unable to see his family. He was re-arrested after a Greenstead resident reported he was hanging around the estate.

But a judge has overturned the ban and ordered the release of Ash after it was revealed he was not aware of the injunction because he cannot read and he was not present at the hearing.

Solicitor Lucy Osborn, of Colchester firm OBW Perera, said: “Mr Ash was in prison when the paperwork was served against him.

“He can’t read and even if he could, he wouldn’t have been able to work it out for himself.

“All Mr Ash wants to do is live at home with his mother.”

Ash, of no fixed address, was on remand at HMP Chelmsford awaiting sentencing for breaching an antisocial behaviour order issued in April 2009 when the order was made.

A spokesman for Colchester Borough Homes, which is responsible for Colchester Council’s social housing, said it would be submitting a new application to prevent Ash from setting foot on the estate.

Julie Young, borough councillor for St Andrews, said residents had been left disappointed by the “legal hitch” and were hoping a new order would be made.

She said: “Residents are concerned about the county court overturning the ban.

“However, Mr Ash has the right to know and understand the legal order that is placed on him.”

Colchester Borough Homes gained the banning order after a series of complaints about his behaviour by tenants.

Ash was given an Asbo three years ago banning him from begging, entering homes without consent and using threatening, abusive or intimidating language, or behaviour.